Are the two rak'ahs of istikharah prescribed only for a matter in which the benefit is not clear, or are they performed for every matter one undertakes, even if its outward appearance is good?

The questioner : May Allah reward you, O honorable Shaykh: Are the two rak'ahs of istikharah prescribed only for a matter?

The Shaykh : The two rak'ahs of istikharah.

The questioner : Are the two rak'ahs of istikharah prescribed only for a matter in which the benefit is not clear, or are they performed for every matter one undertakes, even if its outward appearance is good, such as leading a mosque or proposing to a righteous woman, or the like? I ask for clarification, and may Allah reward you with the best reward.

The Shaykh : The prayer of istikharah is that when a person intends to do something and hesitates about its outcome, he seeks the choice of Allah, meaning: he asks Allah for the better of the two options, proceeding or leaving it. He prays two rak'ahs that are not part of the obligatory prayer. When he concludes the prayer, he says: "O Allah, I seek Your choice by Your knowledge, and I seek Your power by Your might, and I ask You of Your great bounty. You know and I do not know, and You have power and I do not have power, and You are the Knower of the unseen. O Allah, if You know that this matter—and he names it—is good for me in my religion and my worldly life, or in the outcome of my affair and its immediate aspect, then decree it for me and make it easy for me. And if You know that it is evil for me in my religion and my worldly life, and in the outcome of my affair and its immediate aspect, then turn it away from me and turn me away from it, and decree for me the good wherever it may be, and then make me content with it." If he does this and his opinion settles on proceeding or leaving it, then Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, if He has accepted it from him, will place the good in what happens. However, one does not seek the choice of Allah in every matter. That is, if a person wants to have lunch, we do not say he should seek the choice of Allah. If he wants to go pray with the congregation, we do not say he should seek the choice of Allah. Rather, he seeks the choice of Allah in a matter whose outcome he does not know. Among such matters is leading the mosque. If leading the mosque is offered to him and he does not lean toward proceeding or leaving it, let him seek the choice of Allah. Leading the mosque is good in itself, but the outcome is that a person does not know in the future whether he will fulfill the duty of leading or not, whether he will remain stable in this mosque or not, and whether he will be suitable for the congregation or not. He does not seek the choice of Allah regarding whether leading is good or not good; leading is good in itself, but the outcome is that many a person was an imam in a mosque and then was followed by exhaustion, failure to fulfill the duty, and problems with the congregation, such that he wished he had not been an imam. Likewise, a righteous woman is undoubtedly good, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, but one does not know what the outcome will be. She may be a righteous woman, but she may not be compatible with his mother, because some mothers, may Allah spare us, have jealousy; if they see the good relationship between their son and his wife, they become jealous and try to ruin the relationship between them. Likewise, her family may, if they see that the daughter has found favor with her husband and that she loves him and prioritizes him over what her mother or father wants, try to ruin the relationship between them. So a person may seek the choice of Allah not because he is proceeding to a righteous woman, but because he does not know the outcome of marrying this woman. The important thing is that in everything in which you hesitate, you should turn to Allah, seek refuge in Him, and ask Him for the better of the two options. Yes.